“Mmm.” Ali scratched Mignon’s head and the dog’s button-bright black eyes rolled.
“Can’t really blame the economy for it,” her neighbor went on. “Though that surely didn’t help. But their luck was never good. Particularly after that unsavory business with their daughter.”
That got Ali’s attention. “Oh?”
“Of course, back in those days, babies born on the wrong side of the blanket still caused a bit of scandal.” She dumped Mignon in Ali’s hands while she adjusted her scarf and tied it again beneath her chin. “But is a little scandal worth all that trouble?” She clucked her tongue as she took back her little dog and set him on the ground, where he immediately started whining. “Now, Mignon. You have to walk! Dr. Taggart said you had to lose some weight!” In her typical way, she barely drew breath between thoughts. “The way they kicked their own daughter out of the house was just shameful, much more shameful than having a baby out of wedlock. Come along, Mignon.” She tugged on the leash. “I’m determined that we’ll walk to the bottom of the hill and back every day until he loses a couple pounds.”
Ali wanted to pump Mrs. Gunderson for more information about the Carmodys, but she was sidetracked by concern for her neighbor. None of them knew exactly how old she was, except that she was somewhere north of eighty and south of a hundred. “It’s a pretty steep hill, Mrs. Gunderson.” She slid her purse strap diagonally across her body and slipped her arm through her neighbor’s. “How about I walk with you?”
Mrs. Gunderson just laughed and disentangled her arm before turning her old-fashioned black snow boots downhill. “You’re a sweet girl, Ali. But the day hasn’t come yet when I can’t walk my own hill. Go on, now. I know this is your day off.”
Resigned, Ali watched the woman walk away. Mrs. Gunderson wasn’t going to win any speed records, that was for sure, but she was making steady progress all the same.
After several minutes, Ali pulled out her cell phone and called the department, asking that a patrol car run by the bottom of the hill, just in case Mrs. Gunderson decided she wanted a ride back up it.
Then she crossed the street, sat down in the rocker on the front porch and kept watch over her neighbor from this end.
But that left her thoughts to roam.
And they roamed straight to Grant.
She had resources at the department that she could use to peek into Grant’s personal life. At the very least, she could find out what happened with his biological family. It seemed to be fairly common these days for adopted children to voluntarily seek out their birth families once they were adults, whether it was to have their questions answered, get a sense of closure or forge a new relationship. Grant’s motives didn’t seem to fit any of those molds.
Maybe there were answers she could find on her own.
But when it came to him, she knew she couldn’t do it. Go around his back like that.
She honestly didn’t know whether that worried her or not.
Chapter Eight
“Here.” Maddie had barely made it into the kitchen later that evening before she plunked Layla in Ali’s lap and raced out of the room again, shedding coat and gloves as she went.
Ali looked over the baby’s blonde head at Greer, who was also sitting at the table in the unfinished room.
Her sister returned her look with a shrug. “Got me,” she murmured, and turned her attention back to the law book she was reading.
It was the first Monday of the month, which meant the three sisters were having dinner together. It was the one time that they all seemed to agree was sacred. Particularly since Maddie had moved in with Linc. Neither work nor husbands nor law books were supposed to get in the way of it. Unfortunately, that was all a fine idea in theory, but they hadn’t managed a proper First Monday in months.
But that didn’t stop them from trying.
After Ali had finished watching Mrs. Gunderson and Mignon return safely to their home, courtesy of two of Braden’s finest, who’d just happened to be driving past the bus bench where a winded Mrs. Gunderson had been sitting, she’d left messages for both Greer and Maddie to remind them what day it was. Then she’d loaded up the slow cooker, remembering to turn it on this time. The one-pot concoction now actually smelled somewhat like what it was supposed to be—teriyaki chicken.
She worked Layla’s arms out of her furry white coat and freed her from it, turning the tot to stand on her legs. The baby smiled gummily and Ali’s heart just simply squeezed. “You’re too sweet, you little chunk.” She kissed her round cheek, then her sweet-smelling neck.
Layla chortled.
“Don’t eat the baby,” Greer drawled. “Give her to me.”
Ali made a face. “Oh, I do not think so.” She stood up, holding the baby on her hip. “Auntie Greer has always thought she can tell me what to do,” she confided to the baby.
“For all the good it’s done.” Greer’s voice followed Ali as she left the kitchen and headed into the living room.
She sat down with the baby on the dated shag rug that partially covered the parquet wood floor. What with all the trips Ali had made chasing “Daisy” Cooper’s trail, combined with working nearly every minute when she was home, they’d made absolutely no progress on their restoration project.
The last thing they’d done was agree on a paint color for the kitchen.
Which still hadn’t been painted. Not in Svelte Sage or any other hue.
Grant’s walls were still unpainted, too.
She reached for the box of the baby’s favored toys. She dragged it closer, pulling out the bright blue and red plastic bowls, and laughed softly when the baby immediately grabbed for them both.
“Whew.” Maddie came into the living room and threw herself down on the couch that had once resided in their parents’ basement. She propped her feet on the coffee table. She looked at the fireplace. “Fire feels good.”
“Greer started it just a few minutes ago.” Layla threw the red bowl and Ali grabbed it before it could roll too far. “Look at that arm.” She wiggled the bowl and the baby snatched it again. She knew from experience that Layla could play this particular game endlessly.
“I’m pouring wine,” Greer yelled from the other room.
“Yes,” Ali yelled back.
“Pass,” Maddie added, equally loudly. She returned Ali’s look with an innocent shrug. “What?”
Ali lifted her shoulders. “Nothing.” None of them drank a whole lot, but they generally managed to consume a bottle or two on First Monday. “What’s the studly husband doing tonight?”
“Having dinner with his mother.” Maddie folded her hands over her stomach and her head lolled back against the couch. “How’s life with the Growler been?”
Ali shuddered.
Maddie smiled.
“You look tired.”
“I am.” But her sister sat up and pulled her feet from the coffee table when Greer came into the room carrying wineglasses and an uncorked bottle. She set everything on the coffee table, then pulled the water bottle from where it had been tucked under her arm and dropped it beside Maddie on the couch.
“Hope you showered today,” Ali drawled.
Greer made a face back at her.
“Children, children.” Maddie uncapped her water and held it out. “To First Monday. Finally.”
“Amen to that.” Greer and Ali picked up their wineglasses and tapped them against Maddie’s water bottle.
After a sip, Ali left the glass well out of Layla’s reach and returned to the toss-the-bowl game.
“Keith Gowler was at the courthouse today,” Greer said. “Looking as mopey as ever. What did you do to the poor guy?”
“Poor guy!” Ali made a face. “The man was talking about marriage and three-point-six kids on our third date. We had barely even kissed. And when we did kiss, I knew there wasn’t going to be any chance of getting
to the baby-making stage. Sloppy kisser.”
“Eeeww,” Greer said, and grimaced.
“Exactly.”
Grant wouldn’t be a sloppy kisser. The thought snuck in and Ali hurriedly threw up a mental block against it. “But I did have an excellent idea.” She reached for the wineglass and pointed the rim of it in Greer’s direction. “No smirks, Greer.”
Her sister’s eyes danced. She hid her smile behind her wineglass. Ali looked toward Maddie. “I just need to get Keith set up with someone new.”
“Ahh—” Maddie hesitated, probably hunting for a tactful way of expressing the “Oh, brother” that Greer muttered.
It was always that way. Greer and Ali rubbed each other wrong, and Maddie—the middle sister among the triplets—was the peacemaker.
“I’m serious. Think about it. Keith so wants to find a woman that he was willing to think I was the one!”
“Well, that’s true,” Greer allowed drily. “Maybe if you’d have kept dating him, he’d have come to realize his mistake.”
“Oh, hah, Greer. Keith’s not a bad guy. I went out with him more times than I should have, just because he’s so infernally decent. We just need to think of a single woman who likes—”
“Sloppy kisses?” Maddie shook her head. “I don’t know, Ali. Matchmaking? That kind of thing never works out.”
“Please. Layla was the matchmaker for you and Linc.” She wrapped the baby’s hands in hers and clapped them together.
Maddie laughed softly. “Well, that did sort of work out,” she agreed.
Greer caught Ali’s eye. “Suppose she’ll still have that besotted look on her face a year from now?”
“Oh, I expect I will,” Maddie answered.
“You look like the cat who’s gotten the cream,” Ali accused.
“She’s a newlywed,” Greer said, smiling wryly. “They’re probably doing it like rabbits.”
“You’re just jealous,” Maddie returned. “Both of you. When’s the last time you saw a nekkid man, eh?”
Greer laughed over her wine. “Ooh. Nekkid. Legal meaning? Without clothes and up to no good.”
“And it is very, very good no-good,” Maddie drawled.
Greer made a face. “Don’t rub it in on your poor nunlike sisters. Last man I was with was—” she held her glass to the side as she considered “—criminy. Too long ago to admit even to you two. And Ali—”
“Saw a naked man today.” She hadn’t really planned to bring that up, but there was just something to be said for being able to make her two sisters sit up and take notice like that.
“No way!” Greer went from looking astonished to suspicious. “Not Keith. Dear God, please not—”
Maddie swatted her with her hand. She was looking at Ali. “You’ve got a new man? Finally! Why haven’t you said something before now? I thought you were never going to let yourself get over Jack’s—”
“I haven’t gotten a man or anything else,” Ali explained pointedly. “But I did see a naked man.”
“Who?” Greer demanded.
She savored the name for a moment before saying it aloud. “Grant Cooper.” Neither one had met Grant in person, but they certainly knew who he was.
Greer’s eyebrows skyrocketed.
Maddie’s jaw dropped.
Ali fanned her face. “And may I just say...ooh la.” Then she laughed and rolled onto her back. She held Layla up in the air above her and the baby gave a big, delicious belly laugh.
Greer scrambled around the coffee table and snatched Layla right out of Ali’s hands.
“Hey!”
Her sister kissed the baby’s fists and stared down at Ali. “Details, baby sister.”
Greer had always lorded her thirty-minute age advantage over Ali.
“You’re sleeping with the man who might be Layla’s uncle?”
Ali looked at Maddie. “I’m not sleeping with him.”
“But you would if you could,” Greer said knowingly.
She wasn’t going to deny what she wasn’t sure she could deny.
“But clearly, you’re getting...entangled here,” Maddie persisted. “Do you think that’s wise?”
“She’s not worried about wisdom. She’s worried about getting some action for her lady bits.”
“And you’re not,” Ali retorted. She sat up and focused on Maddie. “It was a perfectly innocent accident, actually.” She didn’t elaborate, because if she did, she’d be admitting to the way she’d wristlocked the guy right out of his threadbare towel. Even though she’d flipped him inadvertently, that particular detail would not reflect very well on her. “And we were both embarrassed. Trust me. There is nothing going on between us except where Layla is concerned.”
Maddie sighed faintly, but seemed to accept it.
Greer, however, was giving Ali the I-know-better eye.
Which just proved that Greer was better at spotting Ali’s lies than Maddie.
“You are interested in him.” Greer sat down on the coffee table, not seeming to care in the least when Layla butted her in the chin with her head and laughed as if she’d discovered a new game. “Not just sex-terested, either.” She grinned. “Alicia likes a bo-oy,” she mocked in a singsong voice.
“Grant’s definitely no boy.” Ali couldn’t stop herself.
Greer’s eyes danced. “I love it.”
“Greer, don’t encourage her!”
Greer turned on Maddie. “Why not? You said it yourself a few minutes ago, Maddie my dear. It’s about time she got over Jack! Two-timing Ali with his ex-wife? He was a total weasel. If Grant is Layla’s uncle, then we’ve got a total lock on keeping her in the family!” She bussed the big white heart positioned on the front of Layla’s stretchy red sleeper, then made a face and quickly handed her back to Maddie. “Phew alert.”
Ali saw the dark shadows under Maddie’s eyes and pushed to her feet. Not only was Maddie a newlywed settling into the big old Swift Mansion with Linc, but she was also still working full-time for family services while taking care of the baby. Regardless of how the situation had come about, she’d stepped into the role of new mom without having nine months to get ready. Was it any wonder she looked exhausted?
“I’ll do it.” Ali ignored both her sisters’ surprised expressions as she scooped up the baby and carried her upstairs. They kept diapers and changing supplies as well as a portable crib in Maddie’s room for whenever the baby was there.
She grabbed what she needed and set the baby in the middle of the bed, wincing only a little as she changed the messy diaper. “One of these days, I’ll get used to it,” she promised the infant.
Layla didn’t seem to care. She merely kicked her legs merrily and chortled as Ali tried to wrangle her back into a clean diaper and her red-footed onesie. The white heart on the front reminded her of the robe that Grant had pulled on that morning. “I really do hope he is your uncle,” she whispered as she carried the baby out of the room and headed back down the stairs.
She raised her voice for her sisters’ benefit. “If we put our heads together, I’m sure we can think of a suitable match for Keith. It’s just a matter of setting them up without seeming to set them up.” She reached the bottom of the stairs.
Greer was once more sipping her wine. Maddie was sipping her water.
And Grant Cooper was sitting on the couch right between them.
Heat filled her face. She probably looked as bright a red as her co-worker Timmy had ever looked, and her sympathy for him went up about a hundred and ten percent.
Jumpy in a good way?
Heaven help her.
She swallowed the nerves suddenly pitching tents in her throat. “Grant. What are you doing here?”
“Got that address finally.”
“Oh. Right.” She shouldn’t be disappointed that he’d come back because of that,
particularly when it was one more possible clue to track down Layla’s mother, but she was. She was wearing leggings and a Harry Potter sweatshirt and she felt unusually self-conscious as she carried Layla over to Maddie. “Great.” She tugged at the hem of the sweatshirt. “I guess you’ve met my sisters.” She gestured to each one in turn. “Greer. Maddie.”
They were both smiling at him, though with entirely different tilts to their lips. Greer’s expression was knowing, while Maddie’s was wary.
Ali curled her hand over the baby’s sweet head. “And this, of course, is Layla. Mom had her with her this weekend at the department. Grant happened to be there at the same time,” she said to her sisters.
Maddie seemed to brace herself a little as she looked at Grant. Ali doubted that anyone but she or Greer would have noticed. “Would you like to hold her?”
He shook his head, looking as if she’d asked him to hold a land mine. Although, considering his CCT experience, he’d have probably been more comfortable with the land mine. “She doesn’t know who I am,” he said hurriedly.
Ali had to bite the inside of her lip to keep from smiling. Aside from Maddie, who’d always been good with babies and kids, they’d all had similar reactions to the baby.
At first.
“Come on into the kitchen,” she invited. “I’ll get that address from you.”
He popped up from the couch like an overwound children’s toy.
She sincerely wished that Maddie wouldn’t look so worried, but she knew there wasn’t a thing she could do about it. Maddie needed to take a leaf out of Greer’s book. She was hiding her smile in her wineglass.
Ali led the way into the kitchen, seeing it through Grant’s eyes. Unfinished cabinet frames with missing doors. Plywood countertop. Exposed plumbing. “I know. It’s worse than your place.” She pulled open the junk drawer and pawed through the mess for the notepad they used for their grocery and supply lists. She gave him a sideways look. “Only now I know you’ve got skills.”
His lips twitched and she felt her cheeks warm.
“Carpentry skills.”
He laughed softly and shivers danced down her spine. “I don’t know about carpentry skills.”
Show Me a Hero Page 10